1. Field of the Invention
This invention relates to a sports pistol comprising a housing, which extends in a substantially prismatic recess formed in a grip and is held in that recess by means of a fixing screw that extends upwardly from the bottom of the grip.
2. Description of the Prior Art
In sports competitions it is often necessary to discharge a large number of rounds within a predetermined time so that the shooter is subjected to a considerable physical strain. For this reason the shooter should be able to hold the pistol without becoming strained or tensed up while he is shooting. The barrel of the pistol should approximately be aligned with the underarm of the shooter in order to avoid a canting, the hand should assume a certain angular position relative to the underarm. But the angle between the hand and the underarm or the straight line that is defined by the barrel and the extent to which the hand is rotated to avoid a canting is not the same with all shooters but will depend on the physical conditions of each shooter. A most natural, convenient positioning of the hand so as to minimize fatigue will require for each shooter a certain position of the grip and the housing relative to each other.
In a known sports pistol of the kind described first hereinbefore the grip is rigidly connected to the housing so that the position of the two parts relative to each other cannot be changed and an optimum holding of the pistol in the hand of the shooter cannot be achieved. It is also known to provide a sports pistol for a right-handed person on the right side of the grip with a bar for supporting the side of the hand, which bar is mounted on the grip for an adjustment in an upward direction toward the barrel. That design will permit merely an adaptation to the width of the hand of the shooter but will not permit an influence to be exerted on the attitude of the hand during shooting.
In another known sports pistol (DE-A-2,512,027) the grip is also fixed by a fixing screw, which extends upwardly from the bottom of the grip, but the grip is pivoted on an axis which is normal to the vertical longitudinal center plane of the housing and is laterally rotatable about the longitudinal axis of that fixing screw. In that case the grip and the housing are held in different relative positions only by clamp screws, which cannot be used for reproducible adjustments. Besides, a slight tilting of the grip about the barrel axis is not possible at all.
DE-A-2,237,480 discloses a grip which is rotatable about an axis which is normal to the vertical longitudinal center plane of the housing. In that case the housing comprises two lateral pins, which are movably mounted in openings formed in the bipartite grip. In that case too the grip is fixed in position relative to the housing by means of clamp screws, which extend through the housing and which force the two parts of the grip against each other and against the interposed housing. A disadvantage resides in that the grip is pivotally movable only in the vertical longitudinal center plane. Whereas the pivoted grip could be held in position by means of a ball joint, which permits an adjustment of the grip in different directions, such an arrangement will have the disadvantage that a ball joint will hardly permit the position to which the grip has been adjusted to be reproduced at a later time.